Songs & Activities For Children With Physical & Cognitive

ChallengesFull of musical movement, this workshop is geared for the needs of special education children! Songs and activities reinforce good behavior, staying active, assisting with transitions, encouragement, sign language, recognizing

emotions, and teaching social skills!

Special-needs students need a great deal of encouragement. What often happens is that the student wants to achieve, but feels separated from other students when he or she is unable to complete certain tasks. That causes intense frustration. Without proper encouragement and reassurance, special-needs students often come to see themselves as dumb. This can lead to apathy toward school. “Why should I try when Ill just fail? I'm stupid anyway, so I don't need to do this activity.” One way you can move a student from a negative attitude is to modify songs and activities. This results in success for the special needs student.

How a Child with Special Needs Processes Music

A majority of kids with special needs have a cognitive disability. This means that their brain takes longer to process information. So when a song is played and the message is sent from the ear to the brain, the brain will take longer to process this information. Therefore, when a song designed for use with mainstream children is presented to a child with special needs, it could result in a sensory overload. This is because the brain may be receiving information faster than it can process it. The results are a reduced understanding and enjoyment of the song.

How we Process Music

When a song is played in a room, either live or recorded, our ears feel the sound vibrations in the room and send the brain a message about the nature of these vibrations. The brain then interprets these vibrations and attributes meaning to the lyrics and musical aspects of the song. There are two things that can be done to modify songs for the special needs student:

1. Song Tempo2. Slowing down the tempo of a song The first is the tempo, that is, the speed at which the song is sung. As a rough guide, slow down the tempo of the song to at least 3 times slower than the usual tempo at which you sing the song.

\2. Song Lyrics

Modify the lyrics, reducing the number of topics or actions that it contains. Here are two examples:

3. Head Shoulder Knees and Toes

Let’s use, “Head Shoulders Knees and Toes” as an example. Each verse of the song contains 8 body parts that need to be tapped – head, shoulders, knees, toes, eyes, ears, mouth and nose. While this is a good exercise in skills for performing tasks with the hands in a mainstream early childhood classroom, it can be too much for a special needs child.

Head and shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes, knees and toes.Head and shoulders, knees and toes, Eyes, and ears, and mouth, and nose.

Shorten to:

Head and shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes, knees and toes.Head and shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes.

4. Open Shut Them

This song can be simplified to just a single action. Focus the whole verse on just opening and shutting your fingers rather than adding the clap and tap.

Open, shut them, open, shut them,Give a little clap, clap, clap.

Open, shut them, open, shut them,Put them in your lap, lap, lap.

Creep them, creep them,Creep them, creep them,

Right up to your chin, chin, chin.Open up your little mouth,

But do not put them in.

Fiftyyearsago,JohnF.Kennedysaid,"Civilityisnotasignofweakness.“

PleasePassThePeas

Please,please,pleasepassthepeas.Thankyou,thankyou, thankyouverymuch.You’rewelcome,welcome,welcome,nowyousee….Goodmannersareaverynicetouch!

Copyright, TerriYoung/Mathis

Iaskthechildren forexamplesofgoodmanners.Wethenplaywith"Mr.Peas,"whichisagreenbouncingball.Whilesittinginacircle,differentactivitiesareperformedwhilesinging thesong.

How I Am Different, illustrated with animal balloons

While making animal balloons or showing different pictures of animal balloons, talk about how each animal is different. They are different colors, shapes and sizes. They live in different places. They eat different things. Yet, they are all beautiful!

Every single person in this world is different. There are no two people who are exactly the same. Some people are born with curly hair. Some have straight hair. Some are short, and some are tall. There are people who are good at playing sports, and other people are good at drawing. We are all different, and that is what makes this world such a beautiful place!

We have children at our school who have very special needs. You may see them in the hallway, cafeteria, or outside at recess. Just as our brain and body works differently than others, their brains and bodies work differently. They may look strange to you, but on the inside, we are all the same! Children with disabilities have the same feelings as other children. They want to have friends. They want to be treated with respect. They want to be included in activities with other children.

Answering some common questions about children with special needs or disabilities:

Children can be born disabled or become disabled from an accident or illness. You can't "catch" a disability from someone else.

Just because someone has a physical disability (when a part or parts of the body do not work well) does not mean they necessarily have a cognitive (or thinking) disability.

Children with disabilities can do many of the things that you can do, but it might take them longer. They may need help from others or special equipment to help them, such as a wheelchair.

They might squeal when they are excited or scream when they are afraid. They may flap their arms to show that they are happy or duck their head into their chest to show that they are worried. They are just showing us what they are feeling and thinking by using sounds and movement.

How I Should React: Students and teacher brainstorm ways to respond when a special –needs student, or any student, feels frustrated or hurt because she can’t do something, can’t express herself or feels different. The class starts by asking themselves how they would like to be treated under those circumstances. Students and teacher can give suggestions, such as:

There is no reason to be afraid when we see people who are different. The very best thing you can do is smile and wave to let them know you think they are great just the way that they are.

Don’t point at them. Don’t talk about them behind their back.

Give them the same respect that you would like them to have. Love them for their differences, as you like to be loved!